Michael Avenatti Arrested in New York on Federal Extortion Charges, Prosecutors Say

Michael Avenatti was arrested and is being charged with wire and bank fraud, federal prosecutors said Monday.

Avenatti was arrested in New York on federal extortion charges, Nicolas Biase, with the United States Attorney’s Office, Southern District of New York told The Hollywood Reporter.

CNBC reported:

Celebrity lawyer Michael Avenatti has been arrested on charges related to an alleged $20 million extortion of the athletic apparel company Nike, federal authorities said Monday.

A press conference is scheduled to discuss the charges against Avenatti in Los Angeles on Monday afternoon. Avenatti is due to be presented in federal court on Monday.

The charges were revealed less than an hour after Avenatti announced a press conference to discuss purported claims against Nike. An FBI agent said in the complaint that the lawyer had threatened to hold a press conference on the eve of Nike’s quarterly earnings call to announced “allegations of misconduct by employees of Nike.”

A criminal complaint against Avenatti says he “devised a scheme to extort a company by means of an interstate communication by threatening to damage the company’s reputation if the company did not agree to make multi-million dollar payments to Avenatti and [co-conspirator], and further agree to pay an additional $1.5 million to a client of Avenatti’s.”

The complaint says that last Wednesday, Avenatti and a cooperating witness spoke by phone with lawyers for Nike “during which Avenatti stated, with respect to his demands for payment of millions of dollars, that if those demands were not met ‘I’ll go take ten billion dollars off your client’s market cap … I’m not f—ing around.’ ”

Michael Avenatti, dubbed the ‘Creepy Porn Lawyer’ for representing porn star Stormy Daniels, has been in a downward spiral professionally and financially in the last several months.

Avenatti is no longer representing Stephanie Clifford AKA Stormy Daniels, but he left her with a hefty $293,052 judgment.

https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2019/03/breaking-creepy-porn-lawyer-michael-avenatti-arrested-on-federal-extortion-charges/

Foreign Ministry: the whole universe can’t change the historic reality that Golan was and still is Syrian territory

Damascus, SANA-Foreign and Expatriates Ministry said on Monday that in a flagrant aggression on the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the Syrian Arab Republic, the US President has recognized the annexation of the occupied Syrian Golan to the Zionist occupation entity.

An official source at the Ministry added that the act comes as an embodiment of the organic coalition between the US and Israel in the severe hostility to the Arab nation which makes the US as the main enemy of the Arabs though the unlimited support and protection offered by the US successive administrations to the Israeli usurper entity.

https://sana.sy/en/?p=161777

‘Attack on sovereignty & territorial integrity’ – Syria reacts to Trump’s Golan Heights move

Calling the decision a "flagrant attack" on Syrian territorial sovereignty, an official from Syria’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs has condemned Donald Trump’s recognition of Israel’s claim to the occupied Golan Heights.

The decision embodies Washington’s support for “Zionist occupation,” the Foreign Ministry told Syrian state media in a statement. It also stressed that Trump’s decision shows extreme contempt for international law, and is a “slap in the face” for the international community which has condemned the occupation of the Golan Heights in the United Nations.

Trump does not have the right or legal capacity to legitimize the occupation of other’s territory, and America’s aggressive policy will leave the region and the world vulnerable to danger.

It added that the decision “makes the United States the main enemy of the Arabs.”

https://www.rt.com/news/454712-syria-reacts-trump-golan-israel/

Israel starts striking Hamas targets throughout Gaza in response to rocket attack

The Israeli military has begun striking the Gaza strip, hours after a Palestinian rocket hit a house near Tel Aviv.

Palestinian militant group Hamas is accused of firing a rocket into Israel from Gaza early on Monday. The rocket hit a family home in Moshav Mishmeret, near the capital of Tel Aviv, injuring seven people. The Israel Defense Forces responded by immediately calling up “thousands” of reserves and mobilizing two armor and infantry brigades.

The attack prompted Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to cut his trip to the US short. Returning to Israel on Monday, Netanyahu vowed to respond “forcefully.” US President Donald Trump lent his support to the Israeli strikes, recognizing Israel’s “right to defend itself.”

There are no casualty or damage reports yet from the latest airstrikes. A Hamas naval position west of Gaza City and a training camp in northern Gaza were reportedly among the targets. Unconfirmed reports suggest that an insurance company’s building in Gaza City has also been struck.

Israel has closed the Erez and Kerem Shalom border crossing points and opened bomb shelters near the strip in preparation for a Palestinian response.

The rocket fire and subsequent retaliation comes less than two weeks after the IDF and Hamas exchanged rocket fire. Israel said it pounded around 100 Hamas targets in Gaza after Hamas launched two rockets, apparently in error.

Amidst the chaos in Gaza, Trump and Netanyahu held a joint conference in Washington, announcing Trump’s signing of a declaration recognizing Israel’s sovereignty over the occupied Golan Heights, seized from Syria during the Six-Day War of 1967.

https://www.rt.com/news/454708-israel-gaza-strikes-reponse/

Pompeo Demands Moscow "Cease Unconstructive Behavior" In Venezuela

As we predicted a number of times before, a proxy war between Russia and the United States appears now heating up in Venezuela — this after over the weekend Russia sent a military transport plane filled with Russian troops commanded by First Deputy Commander-in-Chief of the Land Forces of Russia Gen. Vasily Tonkoshkurov, which landed in Caracas Saturday. We also reported the major development this morning that new satellite images reveal a major deployment of S-300 air defense missile systems to a key airbase south of Caracas.

Russia's highly visible deployment of a small troop contingency along with a reported 35 tons of cargo has resulted in a direct and firm response from Washington as on Monday morning the US Secretary of State called on Russia to “cease its unconstructive behavior”.

According to Reuters Pompeo conveyed the message directly via a phone call with his Russian counterpart Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov.

Spokesman Robert Palladino addressed the phone call in the following statement:

The secretary told Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov that the United States and regional countries will not stand idly by as Russia exacerbates tensions in Venezuela.

Palladino added that Pompeo specifically condemned Russian military support for the “illegitimate regime of Nicolas Maduro.”

Pompeo had earlier this month vowed to continue to put "unconstrained" pressure on the Maduro regime after it became apparent that all internal coup attempts by the Juan Guaido-led opposition had failed.

As we reported previously this week's tensions follows a high-level meeting in Rome last week, during which Russia reiterated a grave warning to the US – Moscow will not tolerate American military intervention to topple the Venezuelan government with whom it is allied - thus it appears Russia is taking no chances with its South American ally.

One of those warnings delivered directly by Russia’s deputy foreign minister Sergei Ryabkov to US “special envoy” on Venezuelan affairs Elliot Abrams is understood to have been that no American military intervention in Venezuela will be tolerated by Moscow.

Perhaps paralleling the Syria situation, this could be the start of a scenario where the greater the proxy action and threats from the United States, the more Russia will slowly intervene at the behest of Maduro.

All of these developments signalling closer Russian-Venezuelan military-to-military cooperation in the face of Washington saber rattling come after three months ago the two allies held military exercises on Venezuelan soil, which the US at the time had condemned as Russia encroachment in the region.

https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2019-03-25/pompeo-phones-moscow-warn-cease-unconstructive-behavior-venezuela